Five Times an Asgardian Took Thor's Place
by Red Tigress
Summary: ...and one time Thor came. Rated for language, some violence later on. Team-fic.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is something that's been bouncing around in my head for a while. Just a nice alternative to the heavy angst of Ghost, which I am working on as well. Hope you enjoy. Thanks to Cari and Nonyvole of TBB for the once-over._

"Gah! Jesus!" Clint jerked his hand back as the bare skin on his thumb grazed over something scaly instead of an arrow in his quiver. Cursing viciously, he unstrapped his quiver from his back and dropped it from the tree he was currently perched in. "Shit! Anyone else having snake issues?"

He looked across Central Park. The grass was quivering, but there was no breeze. Captain America was down the path, ushering people away from what seemed to be the magical serpent worm that had appeared about twenty minutes ago and was impervious to gunfire. Thus, the Avengers had been called in, mostly because Fury didn't want to waste time when he was pretty sure his "big guns" could take care of the thing in about five minutes. Trouble was, the worm thing had some sort of camouflage ability it was using that made it incredibly difficult to spot. It was obviously magic, but with Thor still on Asgard there wasn't exactly an expert around they could consult.

What was worse was the abundance of snakes that seemed to appear. The snakes in his quiver were worrisome not only because they meant he didn't have a weapon, but also because the magic could affect inanimate objects.

"If by 'snake issues' you mean finding the damn thing, yes," Tony's irritated voice sounded over the comm. "The thing is blipping around faster than I can get a lock on it, and wherever it appears, more snakes do. It's like Indiana Jones' worst nightmare. Banner, what you got?"

Bruce was currently on the helicarrier. Everyone had agreed sending the Hulk after a few snakes in Central Park was a bad idea. But now as the ground literally became alive with snakes, forcing him and Natasha into the trees and Stark into the air, he was beginning to regret the absence of some big, green, smashing fists.

"Well, there was definitely a wormhole over Central Park that has the same readings of the ones we know were from Asgard," Banner said into the comms. "Sitwell's telling me they thought it might be Thor, so they didn't send anyone right away."

Stark huffed. "Well, that was stupid."

"Believe me, they know. Fury's livid."

"Snakes from the Astral Plane," Tony mumbled.

"The park is clear," Steve's voice came over the comm, interrupting him.

"Might wanna stay back, Cap. Me and Nat are stuck in the trees, and my arrows just turned into snakes. Super soldier you might be, but you probably don't want assloads of snakes all up in your grill."

"Why would I be cooking them?" Steve asked with genuine puzzlement.

Clint rolled his eyes. Before he could come up with a sarcastic retort, Stark gave an unmanly, high-pitched scream. Clint's head whipped around as he saw Stark trying to pull off a snake that was wrapped around his bare wrist. Clint cringed as the snake dropped to the ground with the rest and he heard Stark panting over the comm. He was also trying to right his trajectory with the use of only one gauntlet.

"Ok, I've had it with these motherf-"

There was a huge crack as the sky darkened above them and they all looked up.

"_Damn it, what _now?" Natasha mumbled in Russian.

The wind picked up, and Clint wrapped his arms around the trunk of the tree he was in to keep from falling out. Iron Man got blown through the air a few feet, before he shakily righted himself against the wind with his boots and one stabilizer.

"There's another wormhole incoming," Bruce informed them calmly.

"No shit," mumbled Clint. He felt positively naked without more arrows. He only had his bow and a knife. If Thor didn't come out of that wormhole, well, they might be in trouble.

There was a flash of lightning, and Clint winced in pain as the bolt struck too close for comfort. Hopefully it destroyed some of those snakes. Clint blinked, looking back towards the spot on the ground where the lightning had hit. Pure disbelief settled over his brain.

"It's...a horse..." Natasha said, the same incredulity in her voice that Clint was feeling right now.

"With far, far too many legs," Tony added.

Indeed, there was a huge, black, eight-legged horse snorting and whinnying on the ground in front of them. As Clint watched, it stomped on multiple snakes, before it raised its head in the air, flaring its nostrils.

"What's going on?" Steve demanded.

"Uh...not...really sure..." Clint replied, watching as the eight-legged monstrosity suddenly reared before cantering off to a spot about forty feet to his left. It reared again, neighing loudly, and stamped down hard on the ground with its front legs. There was a terrible crunch, and the giant serpent appeared under its feet. It hissed once, before the horse reared and stamped on it again, trampling it in a cloud of ooze and dust.

"Eww," Stark mumbled.

But, it seemed to do the trick. The serpent remained still, and Clint saw the grass still as snakes began disappearing. The snakes in his quiver on the ground below him turned back into arrows. Clint grabbed the branch below him, swinging down to the ground where he was shortly joined by Stark and Natasha.

The horse nickered softly before trotting over to them. Clint held up his hand.

"Woah man, that thing could be dangerous," Stark mumbled.

"Relax, I grew up in a circus," Clint said. The horse rubbed its soft nose against Clint's hand, and the archer moved his hand up to scratch it behind the ears.

"Where did it come from?" Natasha asked as Clint continued to pet the horse. "Asgard?"

"Yes," Steve's voice said from behind them. They all turned to look. "It's Sleipnir."

At the mention of its name, the horse tossed its head and whickered appreciatively.

Stark popped up his facemask for the express purpose of raising an eyebrow where Steve could see it. The super soldier just shrugged. "I had a lot of reading time as a kid."

"Thanks, Sleipnir," Clint said, giving an appreciative chuckle as the horse took a step closer and butted his head against the archer's chest. "Haha, woah, boy."

"Well, he's already pretty useful, and I doubt he eats as much as Thor. Can we keep him Cap? Please?" Tony whined.

The horse shook its head before bouncing up and down off its front hooves a few times. Clint hurriedly took a few steps back to avoid being trampled. The horse then calmed itself, lowering its head and taking another step towards Clint. It nudged its nose into Clint's stomach, more softly this time. Clint gave it another pat on the head, before it turned away, swishing its tail. They all stood watching it, as it paused on the top of the path.

There was another crack of thunder and they all covered their eyes at the resulting flash of light. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, Clint looked up again. There was a set of ruins where the horse had been standing, but no sign of the majestic creature. Clint felt a little disappointed it hadn't stayed.

Stark, of course, broke the silence. "Well, if I see another snake it'll be too soon. I hope Thor comes back soon. It would have been awful trying to clean up manure around the tower."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks very much to the people at TBB for giving this the once-over. For everyone else, thanks for sticking with this one, I know the first chapter was…pretty weird._

"Why does it feel like my life is a living Tolkien novel?" Tony moaned as he looked upwards.

Across the table from him, Pepper sat speechless as people in the Central Park café began running around them and screaming.

He had only wanted to take her out for lunch. That was it.

He leaned down on the table, putting one arm over his head like an indignant student in history class. He was decidedly not looking at the huge hole opening in the sky, or hearing the roaring coming from whatever was on the other side. "Just let someone else handle it," he moaned. Pepper looked at him and blinked.

"Tony, I'm pretty sure that is a dragon."

"Let's just go downtown for lunch, I haven't taken you out in forever."

"It _is_ a dragon." Pepper said in a bland voice.

"You like seafood, right?"

Tony's phone began ringing. So did Pepper's. Tony moaned again. There was another roar and more screaming. Tony saw a tree go up in flames out of the corner of his eye.

Sighing dramatically, Tony took his phone out of his pocket. "Jarvis, send the Mark VII to my location."

"_Right away, Sir. Director Fury has also been calling, shall I put him through?"_

"Nope," Tony said getting up and offering his hand to Pepper. She took it, smiling lightly, not seemingly at all worried by the huge, green dragon ravaging the park and snatching up crowd control horses.

God, he loved this woman.

Happy was driving the car up on the bike path as she kissed him on the cheek. "Be careful," she said, getting into the car.

"You too!" He smiled, giving Happy a wave. The whine of his suit, followed by the rumble of a quinjet was getting closer. Happy sped off, Tony trusting him to keep Pepper safe. There was another roar, a little closer this time. Tony spun around as the suit got closer, expanding as it did so. He held up his wrists with the bracelets, allowing the lasers to target them and the armor to expand and settle around him.

The HUD lit up immediately, and he got a good look at the dragon as it magnified parts of it.

"_Stark, you with us?"_ Steve's voice came over the comm. Specs began popping up on his HUD. The dragon was about 200 feet long, extremely scaly and with a sight of deadly looking horns on its tail and head. As it moved, the scales shifted over muscle so seamlessly Tony wasn't sure it was real. He could see the glow of fire through its teeth and nostrils. There was a huge boom as it landed in an open part of the park, tail swishing madly like a cat's. Except it was the size of a redwood and it was freely sending people flying.

Tony grunted. "I'm going to stop coming here after this."

There was a small laugh from Barton at that.

"I wish Thor was here," he grumbled. "I just detailed my suit."

"_Stop whining, Stark, and do your job,"_ Steve said, clearly fed up with Tony's behavior. Tony jetted into the air, flying beside the quinjet and knocking on the windshield. Clint grinned, while Natasha and Steve looked pissed.

"Where's Banner?" Tony asked.

"_On his way. Go do some damage,"_ Steve ordered.

Tony huffed indignantly. "I was on a _date_, you know."

There was a long release of breath as Steve fought for patience. _"Barton, flank its other side,"_ Steve ordered.

"_Roger, Rogers."_

Tony laughed a little at that. He just caught site of Steve's unamused face as the quinjet banked away from him.

"What's our vector, Victor?"

"_Stark, shut-up,"_ Natasha growled over Clint's laugh.

Tony did a barrel roll, zooming towards the dragon. It hadn't noticed him yet. "Shoulder missiles," he said. The HUD's targeting system popped up, and missiles began clouding his field of vision. They sped out from him, into the dragon's head and neck in a net of smoke and explosions. Tony paused, hovering as he kept his distance from the snarling beast. The dragon roared savagely, turning its head. "Well, I don't know if that did anyt-" He was interrupted as a wave of fire so hot he could feel it through the suit blasted him backwards through the air. The HUD flashed red and minor alarms went off in his ears.

"_-ark!"_

He wanted to answer, he really did, but suddenly there were teeth as big as fire hydrants snapping at his boots. "Crap!" he shouted, pulling his feet out of the way and zooming away to try and get some distance on the huge beast. He was given a slight reprieve as bullets tore into the dragon's other side from the quinjet.

The dragon's head snapped around faster than he would have thought possible, focusing on the vehicle.

"Move, move now!" Tony shouted. He wasn't sure if the super-heated flame would melt the plating or not. But it was not something he wanted to risk. Barton was fast, but Tony doubted he'd be able to pull back in time.

Luckily, they were saved by another, more familiar roar. The Hulk came sailing over some tree tops, landing squarely on the dragon's nose, pummeling it into the ground.

The dragon wasn't slowed down, and snapped out deadly claws towards the Hulk, who roared in pain as they grasped him. It snapped its teeth over the Hulk and proceeded to shake him wildly like a dog with a toy. It let go suddenly, sending the Hulk flying across Mid-Town.

"Well, uh…uh-oh." Tony supplied weakly.

There was a whoosh, and everyone, including the dragon looked skyward as another portal opened up.

"_What_ now_?"_ Barton groaned. There was a beam of light that shot down to the ground, and Tony winced until his HUD readjusted to the flare. The light dissipated, and standing in the middle of what looked like a circle of ruins were three figures.

One was huge, and carried a wicked-looking broadsword. He had a massive beard and sort of reminded Tony of the dwarf from Lord of the Rings. Between him and the blonde guy with the bow, Tony was sorely regretting his Tolkien comment from earlier. The third guy was a scary-looking Asian with a very sharp-looking sword.

"_Are they…friendlies?"_ Steve asked hesitantly.

"_I think so, I think they're the guys that came to New Mexico,"_ Clint guessed. As he said it, the big one looked up, growling and rushing the dragon. The Asian one ran alongside him as the dragon growled menacingly. The blonde looked around before seeing Iron Man and beckoning him down.

He landed a few feet away. "You must be the Man of Iron," the other addressed him.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Tony said. The other nodded. "Thor has told us much about you. I am Fandral, and my companions are Volstagg and Hogun. That," he motioned towards the dragon, "Is Fafnir. He is very dangerous, and very powerful. The All-Father wiped out his race because of the pure evil that invades their being. Their leader, Fafnir, survived."

"Where's Thor?" Tony demanded. The quinjet was landing nearby, and Tony heard the high-pitched animalistic roar that meant the return of the Hulk. He saw the dragon snapping its head at Volstagg and Hogun, who dodged nimbly each time, but their weapons had no effect on the dragon.

"Thor was…detained," Fandral said evasively. "He has sent us in his stead."

"Alright," growled Steve who had jogged up to them. "How do we stop it?"

"I have an enchanted arrow. It must be shot into its heart when the plating on its underside is separated enough to do so."

"Sooo Tolkien," Tony mumbled.

"Volstagg and Hogun have already engaged the beast. You must help them so that I have the opportunity to make the shot."

Steve gave a curt nod. "We can do that. Barton, Romanoff, you're in the quinjet. Keep the bullets flying."

"Careful, Cap, that flame runs hot." Steve just nodded at him, and Tony wondered if he was really the bravest man alive or just an idiot.

Tony looked to Barton. "Keep your asses out of the fire," he told him.

"You too," Barton grinned back.

_**~AV~**_

Steve wasn't sure how much help he could give on the ground. But he knew his shield would protect him, and he felt he owed it to these men, who had selflessly shown up to help.

_Not selflessly,_ his mind supplied. _The dragon came from Asgard._

Maybe. Steve would clarify later. Now was the time for action.

Fandral ran alongside him towards the dragon, his sword raised. In front of them, the large warrior called out a greeting even as he was dodging vicious teeth. "Well met, Captain!" The other man looked back briefly, before returning his attention to the dragon. He nimbly dodged its talons, pulling himself up onto a claw.

"Greetings later, Volstagg!" Fandral shouted at the large warrior. The dragon turned to see Hogun (Steve guessed) climbing its leg, but Steve distracted by throwing his shield at its nose. It snorted, turning its attention on him and Fandral.

"Let's run, shall we?" the Asgardian said to Steve who caught his rebounding shield and dove out of the way of the short burst of flame sent their direction. He rolled, leaping to his feet next to Fandral who did the same. There was a burst of gunfire and repulsor fire, and the dragon twitched and roared as the other Avengers lit up its side. Hogun sank his sword into the bicep of the dragon, pulling himself up on it to try and reach its back.

The dragon reared suddenly, and beat its massive wings twice, effectively forcing the quinjet to pull away. It shot a burst of flame at the vehicle and much to Clint's credit he was able to dodge. "Get more distance!" Steve shouted through the comm. The dragon opened its mouth again and Steve saw the glow of fire beginning to erupt. He readied his shield, but there was a _puff puff puff_ sound. He looked up, and saw that Iron Man had released about half a dozen missiles from his shoulders, which multiplied and exploded with a staggering force inside the dragon's mouth. It screeched, smashing to the ground and rolling violently.

It suddenly seemed far too close. Its roll was yards wide, and its thrashing limbs, wings and tail added to that distance. Steve only just brought his shield up in time as a wingtip clipped him, sending him flying through the air. The landing knocked the wind out of him, but after a few moments, he shook it off, letting out a small groan as he sat up.

Fandral had been much closer than he had, and seemed to have taken the full brunt of the wing. Steve could see him lying about twenty yards away, and caught the bright red on his face and chest. Hurriedly he stumbled over, ignoring the guttural roars of the Hulk who had seemed to re-enter the fray.

Steve kneeled down, relieved to see that Fandral was breathing. He lightly tapped his face, then remembered how impervious Thor was to physical pain. Wincing, he gave Fandral's face a pretty hard slap. The Asgardian didn't move.

"Clint, we're going need your bow down here. Fandral's out."

There was a pause, then "On it, Cap." The quinjet peeled away from the battle, landing some distance away from the dragon. As he was waiting for Clint, Steve went through Fandral's quiver. It wasn't hard to find the "enchanted" arrow. It looked like pure silver, and felt like it hummed as soon as Steve picked it up. It was a pretty strange sensation. Clint and Natasha ran up to him, and he handed the enchanted item to Clint. "You know what to do?" he asked.

Clint shrugged. "Think I can manage,"

"Good. Natasha, keep Fandral out of the way. There's not much you can do against that," he said nodding towards the dragon. She looked frustrated, but just nodded. Steve began running towards the dragon again, Clint hot on his heels. It had recovered somewhat, and it was trying very hard to stomp on Volstagg who wasn't landing any blows. Hogun had been thrown free of the creature's back when it rolled, and was trying to climb it again, if only to retrieve his lost sword that was stuck in its leg, still. Hulk was behind it, trying to get a grip on its tail, as Iron Man kept firing his repulsors into its face and dodging the resulting fireballs.

"Hulk!" Steve shouted.

The green monster looked up, regarding him curiously, before rumbling over and gnashing his teeth. He was seemingly frustrated at being pulled away from his activity, but ready to listen to Steve.

"Hulk, I need you to get on its chest and tear that armor plating off so Birdman can shoot an arrow into it, okay?" Clint rolled his eyes at the Hulk's name for him, but remained silent.

Hulk's eyes traveled from Steve to Hawkeye as Steve's instructions sank in. Finally, he turned towards the dragon and growled, "Hulk do this."

He leapt, making the ground shake so much that both Steve and Clint stumbled a bit. "Clint, get ready," Steve urged. But Clint already had the arrow knocked.

The Hulk punched the dragon's maw as it snapped at him, knocking the beast's whole head back. He leapt onto its chest about 15 feet off the ground, his fingers digging into to the organic plating. He then lifted one foot up, digging his toes into a seam between the plates, his other foot following. With a roar, he straightened his knees pushing the two pieces of plating apart.

Beneath the scales was rippling, red muscle, but Steve caught the sight of a glowing orange heart so bright it was almost white. Clint had his bow at full draw, and as soon as the heart came into view, he released the arrow.

It took only a second, but then the dragon let out an unearthly screech. The Hulk jumped free as it tumbled to the ground, eyes rolling up in its head as it stilled and smoke poured from its nostrils. Volstagg looked around confused for a moment, before seeing Clint and smiling. Hogun hopped down from the dragon's back, wrenching his sword free. Together they made their way over to the Avengers, whom the Hulk had joined.

"Well met, brave warriors," Volstagg said, clapping a huge hand on Clint's back that made the archer stagger.

"Where is Fandral?" Hogun asked, voice soft.

"He's over there. He's fine, but unconscious. One of ours is looking after him," Steve assured him. Hogun nodded, jogging in the direction Steve had indicated.

"It was a fine shot," Volstagg continued. "I can see now why Thor often brags of the valor of his Midgardian companions."

"Uh, thanks," Clint mumbled.

"And you as well, Captain of America!" Volstagg beamed at him. "Truly, I have never seen one fight so valiantly with a purely defensive weapon!"

"It suits my needs," Steve smiled back, not at all phased by the description of his shield.

Iron Man landed behind them. "So," he said pleasantly, his facemask popping open. "Are you taking this back with you or…" he gestured vaguely to the dragon.

"Yes. The All-Father will not have trouble transporting him now that he is dead," Volstagg assured them.

"And not that we didn't appreciate your help, but why couldn't Thor come again?" Tony smiled pleasantly again, but Steve knew enough to pick out that steely undertone in the question. The one that said there was about to be trouble.

Volstagg apparently heard it too, and he shifted from one foot to the other. "He, ah…it's-"

"He is detained," Hogun answered succinctly from behind them. He was carrying Fandral over his shoulder, Natasha walking with him. He gave a somewhat suspicious look to Iron Man, before continuing towards the dragon. Volstagg fell in quickly behind them.

"What does that mean?" Tony snapped.

As they got close, they turned around to face the Avengers. There was a sound like thunder and another portal opened in the sky. Hogun was still glaring at them.

"It means he is detained."

A beam of light engulfed them and the carcass, and Steve rose his shield slightly as the light became blinding before it shot up into the sky. He blinked the stars out of his eyes, and saw that the Asgardians and the dragon were both gone.

Steve turned to Iron Man. "Tony?" he asked.

Tony looked skyward, before his faceplate clacked to a close. "Probably nothing. I'm late for a date." Before Steve could say anything else, Iron Man was jetting off. Steve sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thanks very much to Cariadne and Zarannya over at TBB for beta-ing this in a hurry!_

It was about a week after the dragon incident that they finally had their debriefing. A combination of Tony and Pepper disappearing for a whole day straight, Steve having to do multiple unrelated press events and Clint having to do some kind of mandatory quinjet maintenance recertification he seemed utterly disinterested in led to the late meeting.

Bruce himself had been exhausted for the whole day after the event. He had found out later from Tony the amount of effort the Hulk had put in to the demise of the dragon, which explained a lot of what he was feeling now. He had largely forgotten about the debriefing until the following Tuesday when he was dragged unceremoniously back on the helicarrier.

"If I have to go, _you_ have to go." Tony gave him an irritating smile.

"I don't know why I have to go," mumbled Bruce. "Since I never offer any useful information."

"Bull," Tony clapped him on the back, making him stumble forward slightly. "You're very good at telling us what time we left, and what time we came back at."

"Awesome," Bruce smiled sarcastically, straightening his glasses and glaring at Tony. The billionaire just gave him a huge grin back.

They approached the bridge and the conference table. Steve, Clint and Natasha were already aboard, and Bruce fell into a chair opposite Clint tiredly. He shot some weary glances towards some of the more obviously armed people, not being able to help himself. Fury may not think of him as a threat anymore, but he knew those feelings didn't necessarily extend to the rest of SHIELD's personnel . Tony tossed himself into the chair next to him, spinning around in it once as Steve took a seat. Bruce could tell the captain was fighting the urge not to roll his eyes, and Hill and Fury were pointedly ignoring Stark.

"Shall we, people?" Fury growled.

"Can Bruce and I just give you our parts and go home? I joined the party late, and he doesn't even remember anything. Granted, I'm sure I would have figured out something if those other guys hadn't shown up. But that guy was sort of a beast. Well, literally, but also in the figurative sense. I'm somewhat ashamed to say my weapons didn't do much to it, so I'm working on that, rest assured, but-"

"THANK YOU, Mr. Stark," Fury cut him off, turning in his chair to face Steve. Tony waggled his eyebrows, looking pleased with himself. "Captain, you had contact with Asgardians, correct?"

"Yes, Sir." Steve nodded calmly, and Tony quieted down to listen, though he was still spinning obnoxiously in his chair. Natasha was leaning on the table, listening attentively while Clint moved a quarter over his knuckles looking bored.

Maria Hill took notes on a tablet as Fury kept talking. "What did they say about the dragon?" Bruce had to admit, it was weird hearing Nick Fury use the word "dragon" in a sentence, but he supposed it was more succinct than "sentient alien reptile creature".

"They said he was the leader of some big bad race, and full of evil and stuff," Tony talked over Steve. Steve shot a glare at him, which Tony just shrugged off. He then continued to swivel in his chair.

Bruce figured this was another reason Pepper preferred not to bring him to board meetings.

"And these were the same ones that showed up New Mexico?" Fury said turning to Clint this time.

"Minus the woman, yeah," Clint said, not looking up from the quarter.

"Did they say anything else?" Hill asked Steve. She tapped a pen against the edge of the tablet.

"They said Thor was detained," Steve said hesitantly.

"Nothing specifically about that?" Fury pressed. He sounded suspicious. But then again, Fury always sounded suspicious.

"No, Sir, they didn't elaborate." This was the first time Bruce was hearing of Thor being mentioned, and he raised his eyebrow. He looked at Natasha but she just gave him a light shrug.

It seemed Fury didn't miss Bruce's expression and glanced at him, sighing. "I'm a little tired of Asgardians coming here unexpected with their dangerous luggage." He leaned back in his chair, touching the tips of his fingers together. Bruce supposed he had a point. The Asgardians seemed to have many enemies, including ones in their own ranks.

Steve looked somewhat surprised at the comment. His eyes darted quickly to some of the other people at the table before settling on Fury once more. "With all due respect, Sir, the Asgardians were quick to help out. And Thor's part of our team."

"I think they were trying to clean up a mess in a hurry that _they_ made," Fury growled.

Steve blinked. "You can't mean that," he said quickly. "The Asgardians are our allies," Steve continued. "Thor has been nothing but selfless-"

"Thor was sent here as an accident, and then again to stop poor baby brother from destroying our world. I'm tired of Asgard using Earth as its personal playground!" His body snapped forward, effectively silencing every one there. A heavy stillness permeated the people there. Both Clint and Natasha were looking at Fury with rapt attention, unreadable expressions on their faces. Steve looked shocked and a little agitated. Tony had stopped spinning in his chair, and had a rare stoic expression on his face. Fury for his part was leaning forward on the table now, trying to stare down Captain America. Hill had stopped typing, looking back and forth from her boss to Steve. The Hulk stirred slightly at the tension Bruce felt.

Fury slowly eased back into his chair, his gaze never leaving Captain America. "I don't want them here anymore. I have enough problems to deal with without expecting an other-worldly 'accident' every week."

"Even so," said Steve lowly. "There's no way you can stop them from coming. You can't-"

"No, but I can," Tony interrupted quietly.

Every face turned slowly towards Tony's, who met them all unflinchingly. Bruce would have flinched from Steve's face alone if that anger and betrayal had been directed at him. "I've already started," Tony stated calmly.

"On what, exactly?" hissed Steve.

"It's a device that will neutralize any Einstein-Rosen bridge with certain variables." Tony said it with such calm, such assuredness, Bruce didn't think he'd heard right.

"It will close any wormhole from Asgard," he repeatedly slowly. Tony turned in his chair to give an unreadable expression to Bruce, but remained silent.

"Stark, Thor is our _teammate_!" Steve was on his feet now. "You can't just-"

"When's the last time someone came here from Asgard and didn't bring a wake of destruction on their heels? I'm with Fury on this one, Cap."

"You're…_you're_ with Fury?" Steve sputtered. "You don't trust a word out of his mouth, but you agree with him on this?" The super soldier was livid. Bruce could see his knuckles white with pressure as he gripped the edge of the table. He gave a bitter laugh that was perhaps one of the most uncharacteristic things Bruce had ever heard come from Captain America. "I can't believe this."

"Cap, we don't have _anything_ that can fight an Asgardian. Except Hulk. What happens when the Asgardians outnumber him? Or figure out a way to beat him? We need something else. We're not going to have only one plan and hope it sees us through forever. It's clear the majority of Asgardians that come here _don't like us._ "Tony had an undercurrent of danger surrounding him, like a predator totally confident in its abilities.

Bruce saw Steve's gaze flick to him and back to Tony. "I don't need your protection, Tony," Bruce mumbled. This was definitely not how he had expected this conversation to go.

Tony didn't acknowledge him. "I'm done explaining myself," he said succinctly. He stormed off of the bridge, not looking back.

There was a silence, punctuated only by the normal background noise of the bridge and the people on it. Steve sank slowly into his chair looking genuinely confused. "This is a mistake," he said quietly, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Captain," Fury replied. And damn if he genuinely didn't sound sorry.

"I'm sorry you've given up on a teammate." Steve stood, exiting the other direction back towards the personal areas of the helicarrier.

Everyone remained still before Bruce turned slowly to Clint. "Um…can you give me a ride back to the tower? Tony was kinda mine."

Clint snorted.

_***AV***_

Hours later, Bruce was in his room absentmindedly surfing the internet. He hadn't gone looking for Tony when he got back. He still wasn't sure what to think about Tony's position in all this. On the one hand, Bruce was disappointed and somewhat disgusted that Tony would deny the chance of friendship and scientific knowledge of an entire alien race. Thor had more than proven himself their teammate and ally. If Tony had been so eager to shrug off the Asgardians, was Bruce next? He couldn't help but wonder.

On the other hand, he _knew_ Tony. He knew Tony wasn't afraid of him or the Hulk. But he could guess maybe what Tony did fear. The billionaire had gotten a glimpse of the other side when he flew that nuke into space. He never talked about what he saw. But Bruce had seen things lying around the lab. Astronomy maps, hacked SHIELD files on the Chitauri. Tony was afraid. And probably with good reason.

"Keep the monsters we have, keep out the ones we don't," Bruce said quietly to himself.

"We're not all monsters," a low, tranquil voice said from off to his left.

His head snapped up and he unconsciously pressed himself against the headboard. The Hulk growled menacingly within him, and a sweat broke out on his brow as he tried to force it back. A woman was standing in his room, dressed all in white. She was older, but not elderly. Age had made her handsome. Her long, blonde and curly hair was pulled back with just a few tendrils framing her face.

"Holy shit," Bruce breathed. "Who…who are you? I'm not…you shouldn't be here…"

"I am Frigga. Mother of Thor…and Loki," she finished.

Bruce fought to calm his racing heart. "Um, again, you shouldn't really be here. I have a…condition," he finished lamely. He didn't know anything about Frigga. She seemed cordial enough, but he really had no way of knowing. She _had _appeared in his bedroom unannounced. His muscles rippled alarmingly under his shirt, and he breathed deeply.

She kneeled down on the carpet so that she was at an equal height with Bruce. It instantly made him feel at ease. "I am aware," she said. "My son, Thor, has told me much of his Midgardian companions." She smiled gently. "He is very proud to have you as his ally."

Unbidden, a feeling of guilt wrapped heavily around Bruce's heart. "Where is he?" he asked.

She sighed, looking down. "Loki has…escaped," she started.

Bruce's eyes widened. "What? No…no. You all said you would watch him, Thor _assured_ us you all would have it under control. When did this happen?"

"Two fortnights past," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"Wha-a _month?_" Bruce spat. The Hulk rumbled again. He was pretty sure it violated whatever tentative pact they had with Asgard that they hadn't been informed of Loki's escape.

"I am sorry we did not inform you earlier. Until recently, we had reason to believe he remained on Asgard. We did not think he would be interested in Midgard."

"I don't know why you would think that," Bruce snapped. "He only tried to enslave our entire race and destroy our world," he said bitterly.

"Be careful how you speak of my son!" For a moment, the very air around them seemed to darken before it returned to normal. Bruce wasn't about to apologize, but he eased off slightly, letting Frigga continue.

"Thor led the hunt for him, but Loki always seemed one step ahead of us. He outwitted his brother at every turn. Finally, Loki caught Thor alone, and used a powerful magic we were not familiar with to render his brother unconscious." Bruce was suddenly startled to see the goddess blinking back tears in her eyes. Her voice, however, remained steady. "He has not awakened."

"I'm…I'm sorry," Bruce said stupidly.

"As am I. As a mother, I cannot think of anything worse than my sons rendering harm unto one another. It means I have failed them both." She breathed deeply from her place on the floor, and Bruce remained silent. He didn't really know what to say to that.

After a moment, she continued. "We believe he has finally come here," she looked at Bruce. "It is possible he seeks those who defeated him."

"Or he just wants to cause trouble," Bruce said, thinking of the dragon, and the serpents a week before.

Frigga nodded, confirming his suspicions. "Heimdall told me of your plans. They are not entirely unreasonable, given your situation," Frigga said.

"Well, nothing's certain, yet," Bruce said, feeling the weight of guilt returning.

"I know it is a lot to ask, but please think about maintaining the bridge between our worlds. If nothing else…it's what Thor would want."

"Um, why are you asking me? I'm not building the thing."

She smiled at him. "There is one other thing I would ask of you, specifically, Bruce Banner. When you find my son, and I know you will, I ask that you have mercy. He knows not what he does."

Suddenly, Bruce understood, and he felt the Hulk trembling against his consciousness. He understood why Frigga had come to him first.

"A monster to protect a monster," he said sadly.

"That is not what I have said."

"Just what you meant," Bruce replied angrily.

"My son is not a monster. And you are not either. My son is misguided, lost, and has been treated badly. He seeks to mend his pain by causing more. You are someone who has gone through much of the same, but you have the strength of character to rise above it." She sighed, standing. "I only wish for him to see that he is still loved and valued. It is something I see in you, that Loki does not see in himself."

Bruce blinked, sinking heavily into his pillows. That was a huge burden. And one he wasn't sure he wanted. "I can't promise he won't get hurt. Or come back damaged. He's done some terrible injustices to us," he finally acquiesced quietly. "But if the opportunity presents itself, we'll…try to be civil," he said begrudgingly.

She nodded. "I cannot ask for more. You are a good man, Bruce Banner. I pray you never forget that."

As suddenly as she had appeared, she was gone.

Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He turned over in his bed, before looking at the clock. It showed 10:15 PM, but he doubted anyone was asleep. He wouldn't be able to sleep himself. Annoyed at the meddling of Asgardians, he threw off the sheets.

"Jarvis, call a meeting."

_A/N: Ha. Bet you weren't expecting that, were you? Politics AND Loki? From ME? It's a new year, baby. _


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Thanks very much to Tenebrielle for the beta and Qualapec for the input. I'm sorry I didn't get around to answering the reviews these last couple times, super busy. But I hope you enjoy, and that you continue to review and fave anyway! Thanks again everyone!_

Tony almost didn't go.

But then Jarvis had said something sarcastic about how he probably wanted to hear how Odin's wife got into Bruce's bedroom from the doctor himself.

"_This_ is what I'm talking about," Tony said, slapping the conference table in front of him and leaning on it. No one was sitting, tensions were too high. Steve was glaring at him. Natasha and Clint looked a little wired. Bruce sighed deeply.

"She didn't hurt anyone," he said calmly.

"Oh, no, just told us her crazy kid could drop in at any moment and kill us," Tony hissed. "Do you see why I might have been a little concerned earlier?" Tony's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Does anyone else find it _deeply_ unsettling some Asgardians can just…materialize in our house?"

Clint and Natasha both raised their hands silently.

Steve seemed to settle at that, but he still look like he wanted to argue. "I understand the need for security," he allowed. "But I don't know if cutting off an entire planet is the right way to do it."

"What if we made it so only certain people could get through?" Bruce asked. "Like Thor."

Tony had thought about that, but at this point in time he wasn't sure he had a way to implement it. "I'm working on it," he said. "But the whole project in general requires all sorts of variables, none of which I have right now." He raised his hand. "Active wormhole," he ticked off one finger. "Live test subjects," he ticked off another. "Random people not appearing in my house." He closed his hand into a fist.

"Not to mention now we have to be on the lookout for Loki," Natasha interjected.

Tony pointed at her. "Yes! Thank you. On top of everything else, we now have a guy hell-bent on killing us somewhere in our backyard. It's not turning into a great week."

Steve sighed. "I'll notify Fury. He won't be happy, but at least SHIELD will know what to look for. In the meantime," he breathed heavily. "Just…try to work it so Thor stays in the loop. Please," he said quietly.

Tony fought the urge to roll his eyes at that kicked puppy look Steve was sending him. "Fine," he relented. "I will take that as a challenge, and then I will kick that challenge's ass. As for now, let's find his annoying-as-shit brother."

Steve smiled slightly.

But weeks went by, and there was neither hide nor hair of Loki. SHIELD suspected he was out there but there had been no sightings or incidents that even hinted at the Asgardian's presence. Tony started to fall behind on his project. He had to jet back and forth between New York and Malibu because stocks were dipping. Multiple fights with either robots or people with superpowers (and they were starting to really drip out of the woodwork now) not only made Tony worried for the future of humanity but also caused bone deep exhaustion. He spent hours re-repairing armor he had just repaired.

And it wasn't just him. Everyone had become busy with something, be it Avengers missions, Shield side missions, research and interviews for SHIELD side missions (in Bruce's case), and one particularly memorable weekend where someone had somehow cloned some dinosaurs on Long Island. Tony had thought it was pretty laughable, but after some harsh reprimands from Steve he had just resolved to show the man Jurassic Park with the intention of saying "Look how it could have been so much worse."

Thus, Tony was killing time before their movie night by working on the "car wash". It was Tony's not-so-clever name for the automated mechanism that disassembled his armor on the landing pad. Bruce and Steve had decided to walk to get the pizzas. Something about exercise, enjoying the spring weather, whatever. Tony would let them have their reprieve, as long as that pizza was _hot_ when it went into his mouth.

Dummy was also outside and the bot held up a power drill. It had been modified so Dummy could hold it and operate it with his claw without needing the traditional trigger mechanism. Tony couldn't care less, but Dummy had just seemed so sad whenever he tried to get the drill to work on his own. Finally when Tony couldn't take his sad _cooing_ anymore, he had grabbed the drill, spent a few hours modifying it as Dummy made appreciative noises behind him, and then handed it over. The bot had spun around firing it off, while Tony pretended not to care and instead insulted the bot. Tony had to admit, Dummy was much better with that than the blender. The bot could be precise when he wanted to. Trouble was, he hardly ever wanted to.

So now, Tony was holding large steel covering in place while Dummy drilled the bolts in place. There was some modifying to be done after a particularly deformed piece of armor had bent and snapped the casing when the machines took it off. Tony had actually been putting it off forever, but like Bruce and Steve said, it was a nice spring evening, even 90 stories up.

"Alright, Dummy," Tony mumbled, leaning over to put the next bolt in place. "Let's go. Tonight, please."

There was an unnatural screech of metal and Tony fell backwards in surprise on the launching pad. His eyes widened in fear and anger at what was before him.

Loki stood there looking very pleased with himself, his scepter impaled through Dummy's main body. The bot had dropped his drill, and Tony could hear his supports stutter as he tried to move.

Tony actually _snarled_ as rational thought fled his body and he leapt towards the Asgardian.

That turned out to be a mistake, as Loki swiftly pulled his scepter free with a screech of metal before slamming the butt end into Tony's midsection. It knocked the wind out of him and he crumpled to the ground, sucking in air. Loki smiled down at him. "Mister Stark. So glad to see you again."

Tony glared upwards, all patience having fled. "Jarvis," he groaned.

"Please," Loki smiled again, and Tony wanted nothing more than to smash those flashy white teeth into his skull. "I can escape the notice of Heimdall. Now that I know of your…system…" his Loki's eyes traveled over the outside of the tower, and Tony couldn't help but feel it was a severe breach of his personal space, "…it was not difficult to disable it." Tony felt the cool, sharp edge of steel caress his windpipe. His eyes flicked back to Dummy who was still struggling to move and he felt the rage flare up once more, hot and insistent.

"What do you want," he growled, hatred oozing from his voice.

Loki blinked in surprise at the unadulterated hatred in Tony's voice. But then he grinned wider if that was possible. His eyes traveled over Dummy's sparking form.

"Don't you look at him!" Tony snapped. He inhaled sharply as the steel pressed harder on his throat.

Dummy made a distressed sound and then clicked loudly as he tried to move broken gears into place. Seeing him like that made Tony want to rip open Loki's throat with his bare hands. _ No one_ did that to his bots and lived.

Tony didn't give up. "Big, scary guy," he hissed. "Only shows up here when the Hulk's out to dinner? Guess you're still pretty scared after the way he beat the shit out of you last time. You're not good at this; you never were. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen asshole!"

Something dangerous flashed across Loki's face as fast as the Asgardian's smile disappeared. Faster than Tony's eyes could follow, Loki's fingers were wrapped around his neck as he hauled the billionaire to his feet. Tony had an uncomfortable feeling of deja-vu, but this time he wasn't stalling for time. That cool confidence he had the last time he had been alone with Loki had was gone, with only rage left in its place. He kicked and fought like a wild thing, but Loki still had Asgardian strength and his kicks did little against the armor. Seeking to shred flesh, his nails did even less against Loki's metal bracers.

Loki pulled him close so their faces were inches apart. Tony could see the fury in the other man's eyes and he felt the beginnings of a sudden fear. Loki gave a sneer of his own.

"To answer your earlier question, what I want is to throw you through a different window," he snarled.

And then Tony was flying.

_***AV***_

Clint and Natasha had been sitting in the kitchen enjoying a beer as they waited for their pizza when a crash followed by the unhealthy sound of flesh impacting something solid brought them both to their feet in an instant.

Across the large room, a prone figure was lying on top of multiple shards of glass. Blood was already beginning to pool under his body.

"Holy shit!" Clint shouted, in the same breath Natasha took when she realized it was Tony. Her knife was instantly in her hand as Clint rushed over to Tony's prone form. She followed, both their gazes looking for enemies as they moved swiftly towards their fallen comrade.

"Jarvis?" she asked.

No response.

She wished she had her gun on her.

Clint reached Tony first as Natasha kept watch. He gently rolled the man over, mumbling curse words as he did. Natasha chanced a glance downward, wincing. His body was covered in cuts from the glass, and she could still see some larger pieces embedded in his arms. The hair on the back of his head was already slick with blood and his shirt and pants were beginning to turn red in places as well.

He was deathly still.

Clint checked for a pulse and breathing. "He's alive," he announced succinctly after a few seconds.

"Did you-" she never finished her sentence as an invisible force pulled her through the air. She couldn't help but cry out as first her back, then her head slammed into a window. Thankfully the glass held, but it took her a few moments to realize she was still being held there. The knife had long since fallen from her fingers. She caught her breath, but couldn't turn her head. Actually, she couldn't move any part of her body.

Across the room, it seemed Clint was in a similar position, seemingly suspended from the wall, only a few feet away from Stark.

She caught a moving form out of the corner of her eye shortly followed by a crunch of glass as someone came through the open window.

Natasha wasn't surprised, really.

But she _was_ scared.

"Loki," she hissed. She had to fight to get the words out. Clint's eyes widened slightly, and his nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply.

The Asgardian flashed her a smile, before looking down at the unconscious man in front of him. He _tsked_ lightly as he flipped Tony back onto his stomach with his foot. Natasha gritted her teeth.

Loki's eyes traveled to Clint then, and Natasha could see all the muscles in his torso and arms tighten under the gaze. "Agents. Such a…pleasure…to see you two again," he sneered. The smile was gone from his face.

"I'll kill you," Clint growled.

Loki smiled slightly again, stepping fully in front of Clint and spreading his arms wide. "You're welcome to try." He waited for a moment. "Oh. Not really in the mood, I see," the God said with a fake note of apology. Clint's whole body twitched as he managed to pull one shoulder away from the wall before it snapped back into place.

"Coward," Clint spat.

"Heh," Loki grinned. "I think not."

"He's right," Natasha ground out. "Or you would have killed us already."

Loki's scepter flashed, and he moved faster than Natasha thought possible. He was standing over Tony's prone form, the point of the blade hidden in the mess of blood and hair on the back of Tony's head. All traces of a smile were gone from the Asgardian's face, replaced with a wild, manic intent Natasha had only ever seen a few times in her life.

"Would you like me to?" the Asgardian whispered.

"Stop," Clint bit out.

Loki turned his head slightly so he could regard Clint with both eyes. Another smile slowly spread to his lips.

Natasha was beginning to loathe that smile.

"Suddenly playing the martyr, Agent Barton?" With a twirl, Loki swung the blade of his scepter away from Tony, holding it easily at his side as he slowly approached Barton. "Tell me, when you attacked their flying fortress, how many men and women _died_ while you _lived_?"

Clint didn't reply, but Natasha could see the veins standing out in his neck. The helicarrier was still a subject that she treaded on lightly around Clint.

"You cowardly piece of shit," she growled. Her fingers curled into claws as she fought for escape. "The others will be here any minute, you don't stand-" she coughed suddenly as she struggled to breathe. Sucking in air harshly, she tried to speak again, but her voice caught in her throat. She tried to make any sound at all, but nothing escaped her lips.

"Be quiet, Agent Romanoff. Agent Barton and I are having a conversation." Loki didn't even look at her. He hadn't moved at all, his words the only indication he had used any sort of magic. Natasha's terror was quickly growing. If Loki had known this much magic before, he hadn't shown it. What else could he do? _Would_ he do?

_Where were Banner and Rogers?_

"You didn't answer my question," Loki said, waiting patiently in front of Clint.

But Clint was having none of it. "_You _killed them," he hissed. "_You_ killed Coulson."

"If the dog bites men, it is only doing what it is trained to do. What it's good at. What its _purpose_ is. I didn't make you do anything you didn't want to."

Natasha beat her head against the glass behind her in a renewed effort to get free. She would have killed Loki for that alone.

Barton's brow furrowed, but determination still showed plain on his face.

"Would you like to go back to how it was," Loki asked soothingly. "The pain would be gone. You wouldn't have to make the hard decisions anymore. Freed from the burden of choice." Loki lifted his scepter to Clint's chest. While it didn't have the blue glow that it did when Loki was connected to the tesseract, it was still dangerous. And Natasha was ready to murder someone at the way her partner flinched when it touched his chest.

"Unfortunately, I no longer have that power," Loki sighed dramatically, lowering his staff. Relief washed over Clint's face, but he struggled to hide it. The Asgardian seemed to take some satisfaction in this. "Oh, how I've missed you, Agent Barton," Loki turned slightly so he could see both of them in his vision. "Have you told your partner about our time together? How you begged for my approval every waking moment in order to fill that hole in your heart you never got from your father? Your brother? Your trainers? Your commanders?"

"It…it wasn't like that," Clint tried to sound threatening, but it was only a whisper.

"Wasn't it, though?" Loki spun wildly to face the other agent. "It was the happiest you'd ever been. You were free, you had a mission, and you were appreciated. Like a faithful mutt that doesn't give up no matter how many times its been kicked. Have you told her," Loki strode to Natasha, grabbing her chin forcefully. She was sure the disdain and murderous intent showed plainly on her face. "Have you told her how much you _liked_ it? Or are you afraid of what she would think?"

Natasha met Clint's eyes then. Shame and fear filled his face, and she might have wept for him if she were someone else. But Loki's hand on her face had freed her vocal chords.

"Lies," she spat. "You are the god of lies. That's why your family hates you, because all you do is _lie_!"

Loki wrenched her body free, throwing her bodily into the sofa. It cracked and tumbled over with her on it. She lay dazed for a moment before Loki was next to her and grabbing a fistful of hair. She cried out as he dragged her back across the floor before tossing her to the ground next to Tony's still unconscious form. She hissed as the palms of her hands met broken glass, but stilled as she felt the tip of his blade touch the back of her neck. She could hear Loki breathing heavily as the pressure on her neck increased and she felt skin break.

"All lies are based in truth," he whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Thank you to everyone for the reviews/faves/alerts, and thanks again to TBB. I was actually going to make this chapter LONGER, but then wouldn't have had enough content for the last chapter. I hope you all enjoy._

Clint struggled wildly, unable to break free of whatever invisible bonds were holding him against the walls. He was ashamed Loki's speech had sapped his will so thoroughly, and in front of his partner. But he wasn't going to sit here and watch her die. He couldn't. He felt he had already betrayed her. He wouldn't leave her to die.

Loki had a somber expression on his face as he pushed the spear slowly downwards. The calm acceptance that passed over Natasha's face put Clint over the edge. He roared, but his own screams were drowned out suddenly by the unearthly rumble that sounded overhead.

Loki paused, looking out the window towards the sky above them. His eyes were filled with surprise, and maybe a little bit of fear. "It can't be," he said stupidly. His face morphed into one of rage and he whipped the staff away, Natasha forgotten entirely. "It _can't_ be!" he Asgardian shouted towards the sky.

A funnel of light shot down to the armor landing pad, and Loki brought up one arm to cover his eyes. Clint winced, turning his head slightly. With a crack, the shaft of light disappeared as quickly as it had come, and all three of them stared at the spot it had hit.

An armored woman stood there, a shield on one arm and a very sharp and wicked-looking sword in the other hand. She glared at Loki, her intense anger barely contained.

Loki's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing again in hatred as he spat "Who sent you?"

"Your mother."

Clint watched as the woman leapt the space between the platform and the broken window easily, seemingly not at all concerned by the 90 story drop beneath her. Loki hurriedly slunk backwards, all the pride and confidence he had had earlier-now gone.

The woman spared quick glances at Clint and Natasha (who had crawled next to Tony) before her eyes returned to Loki.

"You will pay for what you have done to the people of Midgard, Loki. Of Asgard. To Thor. _To me_," she growled. She spun her sword in her hand as she fell into a battle stance.

"To you, dear Sif?" Loki said quietly. "Why, I hardly think I've done anything to you."

"You've done plenty to me," she hissed. "But you're right. Not as much as you've done to your own family. Your brother."

"He is _not_ my brother!" Loki shouted. Clint found suddenly he could move one arm away from the wall. Loki's control was slipping.

"Only because your cowardice, your willingness to stab him in the back at every turn, drives him away. How he still loves you, I know not. I would have cast you out long ago. But Thor is a better man than I."

"You are no man," Loki sneered.

Sif just smiled at him. "Oh, thank you. I had been waiting for an excuse."

She charged, and Loki brought up his spear to block the downward sweep of her sword. Clint dropped from the wall and caught himself on his hands. He ignored the clang of metal hitting metal, crouching and moving over the broken glass towards Natasha and the still silent Stark.

"I'm okay," she said, meeting his eyes. There was a question there, but he just gave her a quick nod.

"Later," he told her, grabbing Tony under the armpits and hauling him in the direction of the kitchen. Natasha ran ahead, wrenching knives out of the knife block when she got there.

As he deposited Tony behind a counter for protection, Clint watched the battle before him. Loki was doing well blocking Sif's strikes. His spear was long, and her sword was short, and they were both quick. But Sif appeared to have the fury of a warrior, always on the attack, with Loki either blocking or dancing away. Loki couldn't press any sort of attack. Clint took a carving knife Natasha offered him with a seven inch blade. He knew which knives in the kitchen had the most balance. This was his favorite.

He waited until Sif took a few steps backwards to recover from her attack. As predicted, Loki pressed his advantage. He jabbed the spear towards her mid-section, but Sif was ready for him. She blocked the attack easily with her shield, forcing the tip of his blade downwards and stepping on it. She flipped her sword around so it was pommel side up, and punched him viciously in the face. Clint threw the knife, which embedded itself in Loki's side through a thin seam that Clint knew was there from his previous time spent with the god.

Loki snarled, one hand coming up to cover the blood gushing from his nose and mouth. "This isn't over!"

As suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone.

Breathing heavily, Clint sunk to the ground. Natasha had torn a drawer out of the cabinets and was stemming the flow of blood from Stark's head with the dish towels she had found there. Clint heard the distinct sound of ringing metal as a blade was sheathed, followed by footsteps.

Sif came around the counter, crouching near them.

"Are you alright?" They both nodded dumbly at her, and she gave them a slight smile. "Forgive my lack of introduction. I am Sif."

Clint nodded. "Clint. Natasha. Tony." He said, inclining his head towards the others in turn. He looked down at Stark's bleeding form again, before pulling himself up and moving towards the table to find his phone.

The elevator pinged and both Clint and Sif whipped around to face it. The doors opened, revealing Bruce and Steve carrying about nine boxes of pizza between them. Steve immediately sensed the tension, dropping the food. Bruce stumbled slightly away from the quick movement, before putting the boxes on the floor. "What-"

Clint sighed, cutting off the doctor. "Loki. Loki was here." Steve's eyes widened as he surveyed both the damage and Sif, who gave him a small wave. "She's cool," Clint said, noting the direction of their eyes. "I'm calling an ambulance," he said lifting his phone to his ear. "Stark and Nat are hurt."

"I'm fine," Natasha's exhausted voice whined from the floor.

"Like hell."

_***AV***_

Tony and Natasha had been carted off by the SHIELD medics, Natasha protesting the whole time. Tony was in a pretty bad way. Natasha was insisting all the medics' resources be used on him, but as soon as they mentioned she might have a slight concussion, Steve sent her away. She had tried to argue, but he effectively shut that down.

So Bruce, Clint, and Sif had stayed with him in the tower.

"I am not leaving," the Asgardian insisted. "Since Thor is not here to defend this realm from his…scum of a brother, I will honor his wishes and do it in his stead." Steve could hear the determination and anger in her voice, but also the underlying thread of pain and regret. She picked glass out of the soul of one of her boots idly, trying to hide what Steve was sure he had heard.

"We appreciate it," Steve said. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. This was a disaster. Bruce was somewhere in the basement, trying to get Jarvis back online. A SHIELD cleaning crew was sweeping up glass and cleaning Stark's blood off the floor. Feeling suddenly sick, Steve turned away.

Clint was sitting on the kitchen table, looking down. Steve's eyes followed the archer's gaze, and he noticed the other man was using a kitchen knife to idly carve into the rich wood there. Steve moved slowly over to him. There was something on the tip of his tongue about how that table probably cost more than a month's rent at his old place. But the words died there when he saw the listless gaze in the archer's eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked instead.

Clint smirked. "Not really." The scratching of the knife persisted.

"Want to…uh, talk about it?" Steve offered.

"Nope," Clint said succinctly.

Steve lowered his voice and hazarded a guess. "Look, Clint…whatever he may have said to you, it's not your fault."

Clint's lips drew back into an ugly sneer, but he still didn't look up from the table. "I know you guys want to catch him alive and all, but I may not be able to contain myself this time, Cap. Just a warning."

Steve shook his head, remembering enemies in war from long ago. The horror and shock at the things they had done had far outmatched his need to preserve his enemy's lives. "I understand," he said quietly. He gave Clint's shoulder a pat, before he turned, looking skyward.

His eyes caught the outline of a weird shape. He squinted, tilting his head. "Clint, what's that?" he asked.

The archer looked up quickly, ready for danger, but his eyes softened almost immediately. "It's one of Stark's bots."

Sif accompanied them to the next level up, so they could retrieve Tony's robot. Steve only half understood the technology and the hard work and the love that Tony put into the mechanical arms, but he understood how attached Tony was to them.

When the robot saw them, it made a loud noise of distress and sparked as it tried to roll forward. Steve hurried quickly towards it, trying to stop it from doing more damage to itself. It made more noises, trying to roll past Steve. He put both hands on the undamaged part of his chassis.

"It is…alive?" Sif asked, examining it closely.

"Um, sort of," Steve said, still trying to keep the bot from rolling away. He moved his leg out of the way as more sparks flew and broken gears clicked loudly. "Stop, Dummy, stop."

"Fascinating. These creatures are not native to your world."

"Stark built it," Clint supplied.

"Ah," her eyes filled with a sudden understanding. "Your creator." She reached forward, stroking the metal mechanical arm. Dummy stilled somewhat, but continued to make high pitched beeps and other noises. "That would explain its distress. It is greatly concerned for the well-being of this man."

Steve's eyes flicked from Dummy to Sif and back to Dummy who cooed softly and lowered its arm. Head. Thing. "You can understand him?" he asked.

She nodded. "The all-speak translates every language. But it is amazing how a human has created what I can only describe as…a soul…in this machine. Do not worry. Your creator is being taken care of. And you will be too." She smiled gently as Dummy seemed to lose whatever energy he had left, making a quiet noise and not moving.

Steve suddenly felt like he was looking at something terrifyingly personal of Stark's from Sif's explanation. He cleared his throat. "Let's find a cart and you can help me get him inside, Sif. Then maybe Bruce can repair him."

_***AV***_

Bruce hadn't known how to proceed with getting Jarvis back up. Nothing was physically fried, but it was obvious Loki's magic had messed up all the coding. Only Tony could fix it. So he had moved on to Dummy. Bruce had tried his best to repair the broken bot when Sif and Steve had wheeled it in. Both of them had anxious looks on their faces, and Dummy only moved half-heartedly. Bruce had taken one look at the inner-workings, and pulled out damaged parts that were already attached. But he was afraid to touch anything else. The wiring was far too complicated, and he was afraid he would damage something further.

The robot had made a questioning noise at him. Bruce frowned, patting it gently. "I'm sorry, Dummy. But I think only Tony can fix this. I don't want to do anymore damage. Just be patient, okay?"

The robot had stilled, making one beep as itsarm hung downwards. Bruce would never know how Tony programmed the bots to feel and show emotion, and he almost felt bad that Dummy wasn't just another piece of hardware. Then the bot wouldn't have to feel…whatever was coursing through it right now.

So now, two hours later, Bruce found himself in medical on the helicarrier. The Other Guy was only a little irate at being on the ship, but it was nothing Bruce couldn't handle. He sat next to Tony's bed, the billionaire unnaturally still. Slightly pink gauze covered larger cuts on his arms and bare chest while his face was marred with smaller red scratches that had been shallow enough not to warrant covering. He still hadn't woken up.

Across the room, Natasha was sleeping. Clint sat in a chair next to her bed. He had been here a little longer than Bruce, reporting Natasha was doing fairly well, but just drifted off in the middle of a conversation.

"It's okay, Doc. She's survived worse. This is just something she has to sleep off." His eyes flicked to Tony's still form. "He'll wake up soon, too."

Bruce was saved from any sort of reply by the arrival of Sif and Steve, who greeted them warmly. Maria Hill was with them. She walked over to Tony's chart, eyeing it briefly before moving on to Natasha's. It looked cold and calculating to Bruce, but he had known many SHIELD agents long enough now to realize pretty much all of them had trouble showing emotion.

"Loki will need time to recover," Sif said to Hill. It looked like they had already started a debriefing. "My sense was he had already used much magic to not only travel to Midgard, but to launch his attack as well."

"He was using magic we didn't see him use before," Clint mumbled.

Hill nodded, mercifully not taking any notes. Clint already looked wrecked. Bruce was glad Hill was treating this as casual conversation. "I'm sorry we didn't get there sooner," she told Barton. "But Stark is very tight-lipped about his security. He told Director Fury the only access he was getting to the tower was seeing it at street level." She pursed her lips. "We had no way of knowing Jarvis was offline." She sounded disappointed.

"Loki is probably in hiding, licking his wounds. He will be formulating another attack, and with more magic," Sif sneered.

"Do you know spells to counteract it?" Hill asked hopefully.

Sif shook her head. "I have little knowledge of magic. There-" she looked around, hesitating, before her eyes narrowed and she looked down fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "It is a coward's weapon. Deceitful. Dishonorable. I prefer direct confrontation with a blade."

Bruce smiled inwardly. He was sure if Tony was awake, the billionaire would have said something about her just being Thor in a woman's body.

"He does not have an army backing him this time. I know not what he intends."

Steve looked thoughtful. "He may not have an army, but he still wants an audience."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.

"Last time, Tony guessed correctly he wanted to, well, show off." The supersoldier's eyes flicked to Tony briefly, and he looked somewhat guilty. "He didn't do it on such a large scale, but he still did it. Why else would he throw Tony through a window at Clint and Natasha's feet instead of just throwing him off the edge of the building? The edge was closer."

Bruce couldn't help wincing at how close to death Tony had come.

Sif nodded. "He is a killer, but it's possible he wanted to gloat. After all, Thor's still not… he's still alive." Bruce ignored the slight tremor in her voice.

No one said anything for a long moment, before Hill piped up. "Sif, what do you suggest would be the best plan of action? We're already devoting most of our resources to finding him, but he's pretty off the grid."

She sighed heavily. "Unfortunately, I think all we can do is wait, and prepare ourselves for attack. Loki has never been found when he doesn't want to." Bruce rubbed his forehead in frustration. Last time he had been able to trace the tesseract. This time, he was having no such luck. He hated the idea of waiting. Especially while they were vulnerable.

There was a slight groan from the bed, and everyone's head snapped in Tony's direction. Bruce stood up, hovering over Tony's face.

"Tony?" he asked sofly.

The other man's eyes opened a fraction of an inch and held his for a moment. Before Bruce could say anything else, Tony's eyes drifted closed and he stilled once more.

Bruce frowned disappointedly, before turning towards the others. They were all looking at him expectantly. He gave a slight shrug. "It's promising."

"Maybe we can talk to the doctors about having him moved back to the tower?" Steve asked Maria hopefully.

She shook her head. "Not until he's awake enough to fix Jarvis. Actually, you're all staying here. Staying in that place without any kind of security system is a huge risk I'm not willing to take." Everyone's faces fell, and Hill looked around. "I promise, as soon as he can stay awake for more than half an hour at a time, I'll send his ass down there to fix it." She smirked. "I don't want him here anymore than you do." She looked to Steve and Sif again. "In the meantime, you two can come with me and we can speak with R&D about some anti-Asgardian equipment ready for testing." They both nodded and standing to follow her out.

Silenced reigned for a full minute before Clint piped up. "Was it just me, or did Hill actually make a joke?"

For the first time that day, Bruce laughed out loud.

_***AV***_

Natasha mostly slept the first day after Loki's attack, but by the second day she was getting restless. Unwillingly, the tower had become her home and not being able to return there gave her an uneasy feeling of drifting. She wasn't sure when she had become more comfortable with the idea of a home. She told herself it was the safety it had provided.

Unfortunately, now that safety was threatened. She tried to pass the time on the helicarrier by making herself useful, but no one would give her any work.

"IT'S _MINOR,"_ she finally snapped at Sitwell when he refused to give her any work based on the concussion. The agent had been on the bridge at the time and looked helplessly at Fury.

"Stand down, Romanoff." Fury said tiredly.

She shot one last glare at Sitwell before storming off the bridge.

Clint had gone to one of the ranges in a non-mobile SHIELD base somewhere in Jersey. She hadn't found the right time to bring up the topic Loki had breached in front of them. Whenever she wasn't asleep, Clint would find an excuse to flee the room. Or disappear topside where she couldn't follow.

Bruce, Steve and Sif spent their time in the R&D department. She would have been little use there, but that didn't mean she didn't want to go.

She mostly spent her time in medical monitoring Stark, trying to peruse (okay, hack) files retaining to the situation. She had gotten into a few by herself and threatened a pencil-pusher in a dark hallway for access to another. But most of the information was useless to her.

Stark, for his part, was staying awake for minutes at a time by the second day, but he never said anything coherent. She was actually becoming somewhat concerned when the morning of the third day, he mumbled,

"Is that coffee I smell?"

She blinked, turning towards him, the cheap Styrofoam cup in hand. He blinked blearily at her.

"Why, want some?"

"Yes."

"Too bad," she said taking a sip. She put her tablet on his bed, reaching towards the bed stand. She took a cup of water with a straw in it and held it up to his mouth. He took a few sips before coughing lightly, and she pulled it away. He inhaled slowly.

"What happened to you?" he asked. The pace of his voice was slower than normal.

"What makes you think something happened to me?"

"For one, Barton's not here."

"Barton's not my keeper," she sneered, but it was teasing.

"Two," he continued, ignoring her. "You're not trying to kill anyone. Or stab me with anything."

She sighed. "Light concussion. Not as bad as yours. You've been asleep for two days straight."

He winced. "Explains a lot."

"What do you remember?" she asked.

"Uh, that would be an assload of pain for 400, Alex."

She regarded him thoughtfully. "You were thrown through a window."

He winced. "Was I?"

"By Loki."

His face scrunched up, and he glanced away.

"Short term memory loss for a concussion as bad as yours is normal," she said, correctly interpreting his emotions. She picked the tablet back off his bed and continued to type on it.

He raised an eyebrow. "I know that." He made a weak grab for her tablet and she easily maneuvered it out of the way while taking another sip of coffee.

"C'mon," he whined, starting to sound like normal.

Natasha sighed, handing over the tablet. He took it clumsily. "You're really not supposed to be doing anything if you can't stay awake longer than half an hour," she admonished, noticing how his pupils kept dilating and contracting.

"Why can't I get into the footage from the attack?" Natasha didn't think he meant to say it out loud.

"Jarvis has been offline since Loki attacked. We've all been here until you're well enough to fix him."

Tony grunted, tapping away angrily at the tablet. "We're leaving now." He handed her the tablet and she watched curiously as he threw the bed sheets dramatically aside.

Or tried to. His arm didn't lift as high as he thought it would and he sucked in a pained breath as the sheets only floated a few inches down his body.

Natasha had been thrown through things. She knew from experience once the adrenaline wore off, your muscles became so stiff it was hard to move. Tony probably at least felt like a quarterback that had been sacked too many times. "I think you should take it easy," she said.

"I'll take it easy once I'm in my own bed," he growled. "Now are you going to help or not?"

She sighed, standing and moving to help him up. He was a little wobbly, but only put his weight partially on her.

It turned out Stark had sent most of the people monitoring the hangar away with some falsified report of testing for CO2. It was easy to sneak onto a quinjet, even with Stark as injured as he was. She hoped he hadn't popped any stitches and she thought it was probable he had blacked out at least once on their trip. She took the controls of a quinjet. She still wasn't totally comfortable with the thing, but luckily they weren't going far.

They landed on the tower helicopter pad, and Tony seemed to be doing a little better. He was stumbling entirely under his own power now, but Natasha stayed close. By the time they reached Tony's lab, the genius had turned rather pale and looked like he might throw up. There was a gentle _cooing_ from the corner and both their heads snapped up. One of the robots had caught sight of them and was trying to move towards them. There was a spark from its base as it didn't get more than an inch, but still kept trying. It tried to lift up its arm, making high-pitched squeaks and Natasha heard the sounds of machinery grating harshly on each other.

Stark's breathing hitched. He stumbled like a drunk man over to it, falling to his knees where he grabbed its sides. Natasha followed more slowly, keeping her distance. Tony, oblivious to her presence, was mumbling over and over to the robot, "-gonna be okay, I'm not gonna let this happen ever again. I'll kill the bastard. Tear him limb from limb. See how he likes it. I'm sorry, Dummy. I should of…should have stopped him." The inventor tapped his forehead against the bulk of the robot's body, and the mechanical arm stilled. It continued to make soft noises but they seemed more…content.

Natasha watched them there for a moment, creator and creation. After a few minutes she cleared her throat, and Tony started. It seemed he had forgotten she was there. "Let's get Jarvis online. What can I do to help?"


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments and faves. I'm so sorry to keep you waiting, but to thank you for your patience, THIS IS 17 PAGES LONG. Enjoy!_

"I'm sorry you feel you must do this. But I understand it," Sif said quietly. She was standing next to Steve. Together they observed Bruce going over various readouts of some of Tony's research. It seemed Fury intent on going full steam ahead with the plan to lock Asgardians out of Earth's atmosphere.

He gave her a small smile. "We'll work something out, I'm sure. Please don't let this make us look bad in your eyes."

She returned the smile. "I have observed Midgardians for centuries. I realize it is only a desire for protection. But perhaps in this case you have every right to fear." She turned away from the bustle of scientific activity in front of them. He followed her as she moved over to a small window, the clouds surrounding them bathed in soft pinks, reds and oranges as the sun set. They both looked out for a long moment and for a while, Steve let his thoughts drift away with the view outside.

When Sif spoke again, it was so soft he wouldn't have heard it with normal hearing.

"I often wonder what else we could have done to him. Perhaps things I don't even consider harmful tore his soul in such a way to leave it permanently damaged. Thor was-_is-_" she corrected herself harshly, "reluctant to speak about his brother in any context other than bringing him home." She sighed, looking down and rubbing her finger on the railing in front of the window. Steve waited patiently. "I miss what Loki was, and I loathe what he has become. But unlike Thor, I am not quick to forgive."

"Maybe you shouldn't be," Steve said. Her eyes lifted curiously to meet his.

"Forgive me, I have not known you long, but it seems you are the last person here who would say something of that nature." The corner of her lips turned up minutely.

Steve shrugged. "He's hurt a lot of people for his own personal gain. I understand pain, Sif. Everyone on our team does. Every one of us has been wounded so deep it's hard to…to talk about sometimes. Hard to show. But it's how we act on it that shows us who we are." He laid a hand gently on her shoulder. She only regarded him curiously. "I don't know the whole situation, but it sounds like Loki had his chance. Don't feel bad because _you_ don't want to give him another one and Thor does."

"Does his compassion make him weak, or the strongest of us all?" she said softly turning back towards the window.

Steve was saved by having to answer by Agent Sitwell clearing his throat loudly behind them.

"Captain Rogers, Sif," he said calmly. He turned towards Steve. "Captain, I thought you might like to know that two of our guests have…declined our hospitality."

It took Steve a moment, but he blinked when he realized what the smaller man was saying. "Oh. _Oh._ How long ago?"

"About 40 minutes. I assumed you may want to find them before the director sends someone. The doctors are a bit miffed. They didn't even want Stark out of bed for another two days."

Steve winced. "Thanks, Agent Sitwell. I'm sure they just snuck off home."

"Almost definitely. We'll keep an eye on the place from the sky, but I suggest you go make sure they're both behaving before we have to initiate a mandatory medical eval."

Steve grimaced again as Sitwell walked off. He was proud of his team's fiercely independent streak while at the same time always frustrated by it. He looked at Sif who nodded to him. "Bruce," he called to the gaggle of scientists hunkered around a large computer monitor. Bruce's head shot up, surprised. "Pack it up. We're going home. And getting delivery this time."

_***AV*AV*AV***_

Bruce, Sif and Steve reached the Penthouse shortly afterward. They could hear loud clanging and cursing coming from the direction of the labs. When they got there, Bruce saw Natasha standing behind Tony with an armful of tools. The billionaire himself was just finishing tearing a panel off the wall. It clattered loudly to the floor as Tony cursed again. Dummy was nearby, and rotated its claw occasionally but didn't seem to move much else. Natasha looked at all of them calmly and unapologetically.

"Hi," she said loudly.

Tony glanced briefly up, before turning his face back to his work. "Banner, get over here and help me."

Bruce walked forward, looking back at Steve. The supersolider seemed slightly put out. "You two should be in the infirmary," he said sternly.

Natasha rolled her eyes. Bruce gave her a slight smile as he approached, kneeling down next to Tony. Tony pointed with the crowbar towards a jumble of wires and what looked like a large circuit board embedded in the wall. There was enough space to wiggle where Tony had removed the paneling. Bruce assumed the paneling itself was a fake wall, covering some of Jarvis' "insides".

"I need you to get behind that and tell me what, if anything, is unplugged."

"Tony, I'm not qualified to-"

"You _are_ qualified. Besides, I just need you to tell me what's unplugged, not rewire the damn thing." Bruce was about to object again when he saw Tony lean forward, his head resting on the wall as he inhaled deeply. The billionaire's eyes were closed.

"Too nauseous to see things close up?" Bruce guessed.

"Shut up," Tony growled back.

Bruce could feel Steve's disapproving glare on his back as he wiggled into the crawl space. He looked around, but didn't see any wires out of place. He told Tony as much. A moment later, he felt someone grab his arm, pulling it out of the crawl space. Something plastic and heavy was slapped into his palm.

"Hook that up. We're going to have to go into the coding."

"It doesn't exactly have a USB port, Tony," Bruce said pulling the device in front of his face where he inspected a few cords hanging off what looked like a thin tablet.

"Find the hole it matches and plug it in! Jeez, how many doctorates do you have?" Bruce did as he was told, seeing the tablet screen light up. For the next 40 minutes, Bruce read lines of code to Tony. The billionaire in return told him what he needed to fix. It was lucky Loki hadn't done anything too complicated. He had mostly shut down the mechanical operating system, not any of Jarvis' actual code. When Bruce corrected the last of the code, there was an electronic buzz around him, and he pulled himself out of the crawl space. His back and shoulders ached stiffly.

"Jarvis, buddy, you with me?"

"_I am indeed restored to normal operating functions, Sir. Currently detecting no threats. Systems check suggested."_

"Do it," Tony said groggily. Tony swung around to face Dummy, tilting slightly as he did so. Natasha was there in an instant, steadying him. Bruce also caught movement out of the corner of his eye, seeing Steve and Sif's attention on them. He was somewhat surprised they had stuck around, thought it was obvious they were bored. Sif lay on her back on one of the work tables, idly inspecting a power drill. Steve was slouched over the back of a chair.

"You can work on Dummy later, he's not going anywhere," Steve said tiredly. "You both could use some rest." He inclined his head towards Natasha and Tony.

A sudden thought occurred to Bruce. "Where's Clint?"

"I'm sure he's around," Natasha said briefly, not meeting Bruce's eyes.

When no one else said anything for a moment, Bruce let it drop.

They finally managed to convince Tony and Natasha to sleep in their own beds when Tony could barely keep his head up, and Natasha was holding less conversation than usual. After he made sure Tony actually _went_ to his room, Bruce wandered down to the kitchen alone.

He wasn't surprised when ten minutes into his self-imposed tea time, Clint suddenly appeared at the table across from him. He felt the Other Guy stir a little at the sudden intrusion, but it was easy enough to calm him. Bruce didn't say anything as the archer sat down, just continued to read something on his tablet and waited for the archer to speak.

"How are they?" Clint asked succinctly.

"Tony's doing his best to keep working despite being on the verge of constantly passing out, and Natasha's a little wiped, but doing nothing to help herself."

The archer grinned. "Sounds about right."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Bruce wasn't going to push Clint to talk about anything he wasn't ready to. Honestly, Bruce was surprised Bruce was here, and not at least in the air duct above Natasha's room.

"You know," he said slowly, looking across the table at Clint. "Natasha's not angry with you. Or confused. I think she just misses your company. I doubt she'd be spending so much time with Tony, otherwise."

Clint huffed. "She actually likes the guy. She'd never admit it out loud, though."

"I think that's true of all his friends," Bruce said taking another sip of tea. "Clint, I'm sorry we weren't there sooner."

Clint shrugged. "It happens. We all can't be here every minute of every day."

"Then why are you punishing yourself?" Bruce couldn't help it. It slipped out.

Clint took a long shuddering sigh, avoiding his gaze. "Do you ever try to push away the worst part of yourself, and you do such a good job, it's almost like it doesn't exist. But then something happens, and it's right back in your face."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously?"

Clint chuckled. "Right, bad example."

"No, it's a good example," Bruce said thoughtfully. Flashes of suppressed anger, rage, and fury briefly filled his consciousness. Memories of his own actions from Before. Bruce had never been a happy man. Or a particularly calm one.

"She saw," Clint said hoarsely.

"I don't think you're giving her enough credit," Bruce said. "I know you two have a…history," Bruce said, unsure still of how to describe their relationship. "But have you told each other everything? Absolutely everything?"

"Almost," Clint said, sounding like he was disgusted with himself.

"Almost is not a yes. I don't think she'll blame you for keeping a few secrets. I don't know her as well as you do, but I'm pretty positive she keeps secrets from you, too. It's only natural. It's _human_, Clint."

Clint didn't say anything for a long while after that. Finally, when Bruce was about to say something else, Clint just gave him a small smile. "You're a smart guy, Doc. Smarter than me."

Bruce just smiled knowingly with an "Mmhmm."

_***AV*AV*AV***_

"You know it sends the wrong message when you sneak into a woman's bedroom?" Natasha mumbled. She hadn't moved from where she had the covers pulled up to her chest. Her eyes hadn't even opened.

Clint lowered himself from the air duct in the ceiling, careful to swing himself so he landed on the floor next to her bed and not on her. "Aw, you're not threatened by that."

"I'm always threatened. It's why I'm still alive," she said, still not opening her eyes. "What took you so long?"

He sat on the edge of the bed. She raised her eyelids slightly to look at him then. "How's the concussion?" he asked, avoiding the question.

She sighed heavily rolling her head further into her pillow. "Better, but not as gone as I'd like," she admitted. She sat up slowly, making sure to look Clint in the eye as she did so. "Clint, there will always be a part of your mind that latches on to a situation, no matter how fucked up it is. It's nothing to feel guilty about." She put her hand on his knee. "Do you understand me?"

That was Natasha. Succinct. To the point. And in her own way, forgiving.

"I…"

"I'm not going to sit by and watch you continue to torture yourself. Things aren't going to get better over night, but they can start if you _forgive_ yourself." She gave his knee a squeeze.

He grinned at her. "You're not going to sit by at all unless I get out of your room and let you sleep."

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a false smile. "That was going to be the next sentence out of my mouth. I have a concussion, you know."

"I thought you said you didn't," he accused, standing up.

"Good night, Clint."

_***AV***_

Tony had finally got Dummy more or less repaired, but it was slow-going. His vision was swimming in and out of focus, and he had to pause often. Dummy made fussing noises over him more subdued than usual when he was repaired, but by that time, Tony was wiped.

"J, I'll clean this up…later," he said, vaguely pointing to the mess around the workshop. "Make sure Dummy's software is all working correctly.

"_Of course, Sir._"

Tony slumped off to bed.

He wasn't sure how many hours of sleep he actually got before the Assemble alarm was blaring through his room. He moaned, pulling a pillow over his aching head.

"_Sir,"_ Jarvis' voice calmly intoned. _"Director Fury is sounding the alarm."_

Tony groaned again, but didn't move. Normally he was all too eager to suit up and blast the bejeezus out of some idiot sap, but not today. Besides his head, his body still ached all over, and his deeper, stitched cuts were a constant and dull throb.

"Let Rogers handle it," he moaned.

"_Director Fury says it's Loki. And he's in Washington."_

"Shit, shit, shit," Tony grumbled, throwing off his blankets. "Prep the suit, I'm coming. Tell Rogers to take off without me, I'll catch up."

Groggy, and in pain, he stumbled down the halls towards the launch pad. He winced in pain as the suit parts clipped on over still-sensitive skin, but it was only a matter of moments until he was ready. He blasted off, Jarvis plotting a course for Washington immediately. Tony let him take over.

"_Iron Man, you with us?"_

"Loud and clear, Cap," Tony said. His grimaced when his voice came out more tired than normal.

"_Sorry, I didn't want to wake you, but since it's Washington, I figured it would be best to have all hands on deck." _Steve actually did sound somewhat apologetic.

"I _really_ hope he's just visiting the Smithsonian. Free museums are the shit, right Bruce?"

"_Uh, sure, Tony."_

"Bruce, if you smash the Air and Space Museum, I swear to the Science Gods...I swear to _myself_ I will hold you completely accountable," Tony added as an afterthought. He really loved that place.

"_Let's focus, please. We'll only use Hulk as a last resort, since we don't want to destroy any national landmarks. Sif and I are on point. Iron Man, you're wave number two if we need it. Hawkeye and Widow are running cover. But Widow, if you see an opening, you take it."_

It only took about 35 minutes traveling at supersonic speeds to get to Washington. Four blocks of Constitution Avenue had been blocked off. Traffic was light since it was a weeknight, and there weren't a whole lot of pedestrians around. Tony touched down with the quinjet inside the ring of SHIELD cars. Surprisingly, Fury was there. He must have had a hearing in town. He was surrounded by about twenty agents in various states of gun-toting and surveillance.

"You know, the White House is that way," Tony said pointing West.

Fury narrowed his eye at him as the others walked off the Quinjet. "He wasn't spotted at the White House. It's possible he doesn't even know how our government works."

"Then why is he here?" Steve asked, confused.

Fury never answered.

Tony was never sure if it was the concussion or the disbelief that caused him to act so slowly. Fury had always been a vindictive bastard, but not like this.

Faster than Tony could process, Fury had drawn his own gun, shooting the three agents standing by him. Blood sprayed over him, and Tony was close enough to one agent that it sprayed over his face mask.

Steve. God bless Steve. While Tony was still frozen in disbelief, the super soldier was tackling Fury to the ground, bashing the gun away with his shield. Natasha was there next, helping Tony pin him down. Bruce and Clint ran to the downed agents.

Other agents began surging forward, and Tony brought his repulsors up. "Nobody move!" he shouted. They all froze. "No one moves until I know what the Hell's going on!"

"His eye isn't blue!" Natasha reported. She had her forearm over Fury's neck, holding down one arm with her own while Steve pinned Fury's legs, torso and other arm.

"Let medical through," Bruce shouted.

"No! If Loki's learned a new trick-"

He was interrupted by what started as a low chuckle, which turned to outright laughter emanating from Fury's mouth. It was unnatural, and it sent a chill down Tony's spine. Somewhere behind him, he heard the metal _shing_ of Sif drawing her sword.

"Jarvis, Maria Hill's private email. I want her to know what's happening," he said quietly.

"Fury!" Steve growled. "What are you _doing?"_

Fury just smiled as Natasha's arm pressed down further on his throat. "Idiots," he choked out.

Tony's HUD lit up as every single SHIELD agent around them dropped in a boneless heap, suddenly unconscious.

Sif had just enough time to hiss out "_magic,"_ before she went flying through the air with a shout. She tore through one of the columns on the IRS building in a cloud of stone and dust.

_***AV***_

Beneath her, Fury laughed cruelly again. She snarled, and slammed his head against the pavement. He groaned, and she did it again. This time, his eye closed, and with a deep moan he fell into unconsciousness. Steve was staring at her somewhat in shock as she quickly stood up.

"It's the only thing that works," she hissed. Steve got off of Fury, and she pulled the director's body behind a car. What good it would do against Loki she had no idea, but she had to try. She didn't always agree with Fury's decisions, but she had a tremendous amount of respect for him and would guard him until backup arrived. She crouched next to his body, charging up her Widow's Bite cuffs as she did.

"Keep him clear. Bide your time," Steve said to her. "Hawkeye, get to higher ground, we need to regroup." He turned to remains of the front of the building Sif had crashed into. There was a flash of metal as she used her sword to lever herself out. "Sif!" He ran towards her.

A scrambling noise came from her right, and she whipped her gun out of the holster ready to shoot.

Bruce was squatting on the pavement nearby, and he quickly threw his hands up."Easy now," he said in a placating voice.

"You can't be here," she hissed. Her eyes scanned cars, unconscious agents, building facades. She saw a few curious faces peek out of windows.

"Where else am I supposed to go?" he said back. "The Other Guy is the only one who can put Loki down, but he needs help, and it's not getting here quick enough." Bruce pointed to Fury.

"Check his head. I had to smash it a few times," she said, wincing slightly. She moved aside so Bruce could get to Fury. He started unbuttoning his shirt.

He smiled at the odd look she gave him. "Gonna ruin it anyway." He balled up the cloth, putting it under the back of Fury's head. Natasha could see some blood already beginning to appear.

"_Hawkeye, anything?"_ Steve asked over the comms.

"_Negative,"_ Clint reported, sounding bitter.

"Loki!" Tony shouted, the suits internal mic system magnifying his voice. "This is stupid! You know you can't beat us all. Stop playing games!"

"_Oh, but I do love games."_ Loki's voice sounded over their comms, and Natasha nearly jumped out of her skin.

"_Clint, I need a visual!"_ Steve shouted.

"_I don't have one!"_

"_I do,"_ Tony growled.

Natasha peeked over the hood of the cruiser to see Iron Man raise his arm and fire it at a different car. The explosion of the repulsor sent the car flying through the air in a spectacular display of crunching, sparking metal.

It was possible she was mistaken, but she didn't see a trace of Loki.

"_Stark, what are you-"_

Clint's words were cut off as Iron Man raised both gauntlets and aimed them where Sif was still pulling herself out of the rubble.

Clint shouted _"STOP!" _at the same time as Steve shouted_ "MOVE!"_

Natasha's heart leapt into her throat.

Sif's head snapped up, and her eyes traveled to the perceived threat immediately. She rolled to her feet, taking two long strides before leaping away as the repulsor fire ignited the stone behind her, sending rubble raining down on the street.

Something was terribly wrong.

Steve was tackling Tony to the ground shield-first. Not an easy feat with a man in a 400 pound metal suit, but somehow Steve managed.

"_Cap, he's behind you!"_ Tony raised his arm around Steve, who ducked out of the way and winced as another blast went off.

"_Stark, he's not there! Stop firing!"_ Clint's voice had a note of ferocity in it, making Natasha unconsciously tense her body and rise a little more from behind the cover of the car.

"_I see him, he's there, he's…_smiling_ at me,"_ Tony snarled, fierce and desperate and manic. He gave another growl and tried to raise his arm, but the suit suddenly stilled and his arm fell to the ground with a _clang_.

It was Jarvis' voice that sounded over the comms next. _"I am detecting no physical presence of Loki and have taken full control of the suit for Master Stark's protection,"_ he intoned.

"It is magic!" Sif shouted, running towards them. "Loki is making him see things that are not there."

"And now his own suit is fighting him," Bruce whispered. Natasha glanced at him, but he was focused on the scene playing out in front of him. "One down."

"Bruce, you have to leave. Somehow his powers have gotten stronger; who knows what he can make the Hulk do?"

She could see from the grimace on his face that he was torn. She caught the flicker of green rush over his exposed skin.

"Bruce," she warned.

"I'm not leaving you," he growled, voice low but loud.

"DO IT!" She snarled at him.

"I don't think that's necessary," a soft voice said. Natasha whirled to see Loki crouching next to them, looking calm. His hands were growing bright blue. Faster then she could react, Loki's hands shot out to their heads. They both sucked in sharp breaths as a feeling like ice spread from the point of impact down through their bodies. Bruce crumpled to the ground, but Natasha's thoughts felt like they were being stripped away.

And then there was fear.

_***AV***_

Clint cursed. This was going to Hell fast.

He struggled to keep his fear under control as Stark's panicked voice continued to cut through their comms. He could shoot aliens, robots, even the Hulk in the back. But this…

…this was an enemy he had no idea how to fight.

Movement caught his eye, and his head snapped towards the car where Natasha and Bruce were. Bruce was on the ground, unmoving. Natasha's head was moving quickly from side to side, barely even taking in Bruce. Clint could see she was on the balls of her feet ready to spring. Her body was a mass of tension as she looked over the hood, taking in the sight of Captain America getting off Iron Man.

"Nat what-"

He didn't get to finish his question. Screaming something in Russian he couldn't quite catch, she scrambled over the hood of the car, leaping off and onto Steve's back.

Clint was moving now, scrambling down from his perch, and running to help. He didn't care. This had to stop.

Steve cried out as Natasha plunged her fingers into his eyes. She was screaming something that Clint thought may have translated roughly to "filthy" and there was definitely something about America in there. Steve swung wildly, trying to dislodge her, as Tony continued shouting in the comms about Loki. Sif was there as well, and she was wrapping her arms around Natasha's waist, about to pull her off of Steve.

That's when Clint saw the glint of a knife. He shouted Sif's name.

Sif let go, her eyes seeing the knife as Natasha plunged it downwards. She raised her wrists, the blade bouncing off her vambraces, but Natasha took a wide swing. Sif was forced backwards. Natasha used the distraction to her advantage, thrusting the knife into Steve's side.

Steve cried out again, and his instincts took over. Clint couldn't help but wince as he grabbed Natasha's shoulder, flipping her over his head and onto the ground. She grunted loudly, trying to pull herself away. Sif ran to her, dodging one of her fists and pinning her down. It wasn't hard with Sif's strength, but Natashsa fought. One arm broke free of Sif's hold, but by that time Clint was there to grab it. Natasha screamed in frustration, rambling something off in Russian. Clint only caught about every 4th word, but it was clear she wasn't pleased.

Clint's eyes flicked briefly Steve. "You okay?" he asked.

Steve hissed as he pulled the knife from his side. It was dripping with blood, and he tossed it on the ground as he hunched forward protectively. "What was that?" he gasped.

"She clearly does not like you. She keeps calling you scum, and a manner of other words which I will not repeat," growled Sif.

Clint blinked with a sudden realization. "Her memories," he moaned. "She thinks she's in Russia."

Sif looked startled. "Loki could not do that before," she said.

"Well, he's done it now!" Clint snapped. "So I suggest maybe we retreat and regroup before the rest of this goes in the shitter!" He didn't even want to think about the possibility Natasha may not get her memories back. He couldn't handle that right now.

Steve looked torn. And in pain. "Tie her up," he said, indicating Natasha.

Clint reached for the zip ties he kept in one of his pockets when in a shimmer of light caught his attention. Loki appeared next to Steve. Steve, sensing more than seeing the god, swung to his right bringing the shield in front of him. But Loki just smiled as he ducked before swinging his own staff into Steve's wound. The supersoldier fell to his knees with a cry.

Before Clint could even process what just happened, Sif leapt up, screaming and swinging her sword.

Clint frantically tried to take her place holding Natasha down, but the assassin had been waiting for an opening. She swung her knees up right into Clint's face.

Clint's vision exploded into white as a sickening crack followed by pain spread from his nose like a tidal wave. He fell backwards, clutching his nose. He could already feel the hot liquid running down his mouth and over his hands. Natasha took the opportunity to scramble to her feet, and run.

Clint tried to call out to her, but choked on his own blood. The resulting cough sent waves of agony though his face, but he picked up his bow and pulled himself to his feet. Steve was sucking in air nearby, while Sif was trading blows with Loki. But this time, Loki had the higher ground and was confident he did. He blocked or dodged all of Sif's blows, never returning them. Sif was a good fighter, but Clint could see the emotion in her face, and the calm determination in Loki's. She was becoming more frustrated.

He grabbed an arrow off his back and nocked it on his bow. Drawing the string back to his face, he winced as the string automatically brushed his nose. He breathed out a shuddering breath. He had worked through pain before, would again. He waited for an opening. He loosed.

The arrow soared through empty air.

Sif's expression mirrored his own as her own sword sliced through the same space.

"_Oh, Agent Barton, we used to be such good friends. No matter. I have a gift for you."_ The air whispered around him, and Clint pulled another arrow from his quiver. His skin crawled at the words. He knew exactly what Loki's gifts entailed.

He felt a cool touch on the back of his head and he spun around. But the damage was done. His limbs gave out as his eyes rolled back in his head and he saw only darkness.

_***AV***_

"Okay, J," Tony said. His eyes were squeezed shut. Fierce pain continued to shoot through his head in time with his pulse. He wasn't sure if it was the leftover effects of a concussion or Loki's magic. He didn't care. "I'm calm. Disable all visual input to the HUD." It had taken him longer to calm down than he would admit. But he had seen the Asgardian's pale face everywhere, swinging weapons into his teammates, sometimes missing, sometimes hitting. Tony had panicked. Jarvis disabled communications shortly after.

He opened his eyes, releasing a breath when he saw just the HUD display and nothing from the cameras.

"Enable infrared."

The screen flicked to life, and he saw the red and yellow outlines of various SHIELD agents, Steve, and Sif.

"Alright Jarvis, we got this. You can give me control of the suit again."

"_Glad to have you back, Sir."_

Tony rolled and pushed himself to his feet. He ran to the outline that was Steve, kneeling on the ground over someone. He then saw the outline of the person was vaguely Clint-shaped. "What's going on?" He asked.

Steve turned his head in his direction, but Tony couldn't read the expression on his face.

"You alright, Stark?" Steve's voice was breathy, like he'd just run a mile.

"I'm running on infrared right now, so I'm good. But I can't see much except outlines," he admitted.

"Captain Rogers has sustained an injury and Hawkeye is down," Sif reported. Her voice was weary. "The Doctor is also unconscious. Black Widow has run off."

Tony turned his head with surprise. "Wait, what? Run off?"

"Loki took her memories," Steve grunted. Tony helped him to his feet, noticing the slightly increased heat coming from his side. "She thinks she's in Russia. We have to regroup. Loki is too powerful!"

Tony spun to face Sif. "He wasn't like this before! What happened to him?"

Sif hung her head in defeat and shame. "I'm sorry fellow warriors, I have deceived you."

"What are you talking about?" Tony hissed, anger beginning to overrule logic.

"My King swore me to secrecy, but…if we are to win, you must know. Loki is in possession of-"

Sif was cut off with a cry as the ground around her softened, and she sank like a stone up to her waist. Steve quickly pulled Tony back. Sif shouted in anger, trying to pull herself out, but the asphalt had already solidified.

"The Infinity Gem of the Mind makes my magic infinitely more powerful," Loki's voice echoed around them. "You were fools to come here. But my fun is over. Surrender."

"No," Steve hissed.

A form appeared about ten feet in front on Tony, and he knew it was real. He raised both repulsors threateningly. Loki laughed, low and threatening. "You are beaten. Know when to submit to the higher power. If you do not surrender, perhaps I will make your mindless beast suffer the same illusions I made you suffer from, Stark."

Tony's heart rate leapt as he heard a moan coming from Bruce's direction.

"Unfortunately," Loki grinned. "He does not have his robot to trap his body."

There was another low moan, and Tony sneered.

"Loki!" Sif shouted, drawing her attention to him. "What do you hope to gain by conquering Midgard? That was not your goal, it was originally your ally's!"

"My goals have changed!" Loki shouted back. The wind was beginning to pick up, whipping Loki's clothing around his feet menacingly. "You know nothing about it!"

"I know you want acceptance. At this rate you will never gain-"

"Be quiet!" Loki screamed. He dashed forward, aiming a kick at her head. She blocked with one wrist before she was pulled further down. Tony felt the targeting missiles erupt from his shoulders and the HUD showed them locked on to his target. They flew forward with high-pitched screams before detonating in front of Loki. There was a flare of heat that made his HUD go bright red for a moment, but when it cleared, Loki was still standing there. Loki was glaring at him, all trace of amusement gone. "I really hate you, Stark."

Tony was about to reply with something snarky but then he was being hurled through the air by an unknown force. He felt something give way beneath his back as he impacted a wall, his head snapping back. He crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap.

_***AV***_

Steve pushed his pain aside, lunging at Loki even as Iron Man was tossed easily through the air. Loki dodged him with a snarl, grabbing him around the neck. There was an icy feeling that spread from Loki's fingers down Steve's neck and he felt his limbs freeze up. Loki pulled him close so their faces were inches apart.

"You will not win," he hissed. Lightning flashed overhead. "I am more powerful now than you ever dreamed. I will have my revenge. Your friends are beaten and broken." Steve's eyes traveled to his teammates frantically. Sif, buried up to her neck in concrete. Natasha, gone. Clint, Bruce and Tony all motionless on the ground. Thunder boomed.

Steve's eyes traveled upwards behind Loki to a swirl of dark clouds in the air. Lightning flashed again, and he saw Loki's eyes narrow, attention solely focused on him. "Shall you beg for your life mortal? Or do you have other last words?"

There was a huge _boom_, and Steve saw something flash, appearing out of the clouds and flying towards them fast. "Yeah," he choked out as he saw Loki's eyes widen in sudden realization and fear. "Here comes the thunder."

Thor slammed into his brother with the force of a freight train.

_***AV***_

Thor had awakened to his mother's distraught face as his body screamed in protest.

Thor had discovered the pain Loki had caused his family.

Thor had been informed of the havoc his brother was wreaking on his friends.

And Thor was not pleased.

The concrete sidewalk cracked from the impact of Loki landing on it. He rolled weakly, and coughed once. "Dear Brother," he panted. "Feeling better, I see."

Thor stood over him and crushed his foot firmly into his chest. "SILENCE!" he roared.

Loki flinched.

Thor leveled Mjolnir at his brother's face. He felt his rage surging through him like an unforgiving tide, consuming rational thought. He struggled to calm himself. "You have had _every_ chance to repent. And now you have caused _grievous_ harm to Midgard and its defenders. Make no mistake. You will pay."

Loki laughed lightly. "Thor, whatever happened to the days when you would plead with me to come home? Remember the past fondly to try and sway me into some sense of forgotten loyalty?"

"Enough, Loki!" Thor stepped back, pulling his brother up by his clothes.

"Thor!" The Asgardian turned slightly towards the sound of Steve's gasp. "The gem!"

"Ah, yes, the gem," Loki sneered. "Or had you forgotten already, you pedantic cretin!" Loki reached up and tore Thor's arms away before he brought both hands up against his brother's chest. Thor flew backwards a few feet, but through sheer force of will, slowed himself. His boots caused deep furrows in the street as he stopped his own momentum.

Confusion and anger flashed across Loki's features.

It was then Thor held out his fist. He uncurled his fingers slowly, revealing the red glow there. "You see, Brother," he said sadly. He hadn't wanted to use this. Not here. Not on Loki. "Father has also gifted me with a gem."

"He wouldn't dare," hissed Loki. "The power is too great! Even for you!" he spat.

Thor narrowed his eyes, standing fully. "You understand now how much we desire your defeat."

Loki uttered a guttural cry of rage, leaping forward. Thor felt his body freeze up, but he felt the Gem of Power flow through him. As he thought consciously about it, he could feel the raw power of the gem urging him on and telling him to take his enemy apart.

It would have been so easy.

He forced the thoughts back as he fought for control of his body. He gained it back just as Loki was upon him. Loki's hands reached for his head, but Thor grabbed both of his wrists, swinging him around and down into the street. Loki moaned as Thor stepped forward, tearing the gem from his fingers.

He gazed at both of them for a moment, blue and red together as his brother trembled underneath him.

_The gems will want to be together,_ his father warned him.

"Thor," Sif called. Her voice wasn't demanding or panicked. She simply wanted his attention.

It snapped him back to reality. He left Mjolnir on Loki's chest, holding him down. The other Asgardian didn't notice. Already, he noticed Clint Barton and Bruce Banner both beginning to stir. He approached Steve Rogers first.

"I'm okay," the Captain grunted. He stood, holding an arm to his side and moving stiffly. But the bleeding had stopped. Thor moved on to Sif.

"My Prince," she gave him a smug smile.

He punched the stone around her, causing it to crumble. He reached down offering his hand to her. She took it, smiling and he pulled her out.

Thor was quite astonished when Sif, the warrior maiden, wrapped her arms tightly around him. As soon as she did, she let go, clearing her throat. "My Prince, I am…pleased you have recovered," she said.

He clapped his hand on her shoulder. "Verily. Thank you, Sif, for taking my place on Midgard."

"It was an honor," she replied.

"More like worl'o'hurt," Tony's voice moaned from behind them. Banner was helping him out of the suit, and Thor could see he blood on his face and the unsteady way he stood.

"Uh, we should probably get him to a doctor. That's his second concussion this week," Bruce said worriedly.

"Aw, Brus. Stop bein' so nice." They limped off together, the clunk of metal boots echoing dully off the buildings around them.

Clint was glaring at Loki, and Thor could see his bow finger twitching regularly. Thor approached the archer. "Agent Barton, Sif and I will deal with my brother. Perhaps you'd make sure Agent Romanoff is faring well?" Thor pointed, and Clint's head whipped around. Natasha had appeared at the corner, looking somewhat confused. Thor waved, but Clint was already jogging towards her.

All around them, the agents still alive after Loki's attack were sitting up, rubbing their heads. Thor caught sight of Fury, growling and already starting to relay orders into his earpiece before he was fully upright.

"Loki's magic is gone temporarily, and with it, his spells," Thor told Steve.

Steve nodded. He pointed his chin towards Thor's fist where the two gems were being obscured from Fury's vision. "What about those?"

Thor and Sif exchanged glances. "They are kept under the protection of my Father. They are not to be entrusted to mortals…or Asgardians alike. They are very dangerous." He could see Steve opening his mouth to argue, and Thor interrupted him. "But clearly having them all in one known location is quite dangerous. I assure you, Steve Rogers, this matter will be corrected soon."

Steve regarded him closely, and Thor met his gaze evenly. Finally, Steve nodded. "Keep me in the loop."

"Of course." Thor understood now that even on Asgard, the weapons his father possessed would always be sought after. He looked towards Loki again. "Captain, I am afraid I must depart as soon as I've arrived."

Steve nodded. "I understand. Just…please make sure he is in a more secure place."

Pain for his brother blossomed within Thor's chest, but he quickly pushed it down.

"Oh, you can be assured of that," Sif said icily. He put his hand on her shoulder and felt her calm down somewhat.

"It will be handled," Thor told Steve. "But we must depart. Thank you in my absence for putting up with Sleipnir, Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral."

"Uh…sure." Steve looked around uncertainly, like the Warriors Three and an eight-legged horse might suddenly appear out of thin air.

Thor grinned. "And the Lady Sif, of course."

He got a rather hard elbow to the side for that.

"Well, uh, she's welcome any time," Steve said. Thor was somewhat surprised to see Sif wink at the Captain. It seems Steve was surprised as well.

"I may take you up on that." She walked calmly over to Loki, wrenching his hands together. "Thor, I am ready."

Thor looked at Steve again. "I will try to return as soon as I can. But for all this, I am truly sorry." Steve clapped his hand on his shoulder.

"Thor, the only one who should be sorry is Loki. This is not your fault. You're an Avenger. We trust you." Steve smiled at him, and Thor returned it.

"You are a good man, Steve."

"Have a good flight, Thor." Steve backed away, allowing space.

Thor looked skyward. "Heimdall! We are ready."

There was a huge boom, and a beam of light encircling the three Asgardians appeared. Thor had one last moment to see his Midgardian companions before he was flying back to Asgard.

Their friendship and courage sustained him on days like today.


End file.
